Mon, 24 Apr 2017 14:51:43 +0000
By GRACE CHAILE LESOETSA
ZAMBIA has withdrawn from competing in the Zone V Africa boxing tournament billed for this month end in Angola due to financial constraints, says Zambia Boxing Federation (ZBF) general secretary Bright Chomba.
Chomba in an interview yesterday said the federation had failed to raise US$7,550 (about K75, 500) required to send a team to the tournament.
He said they only received the invitation in March, therefore had little time to source funds.
“The tournament will start on April 26 and the boxers were supposed to leave by Tuesday. But due to lack of resources, we have withdrawn from the competition. Our competing countries received the invitation by early February,” he said.
He described the situation as unfortunate in that boxers will be disadvantaged during the Africa Championships because none will be on bay.
“If we had participated, our boxers could have started the African Championship in the quarter-finals. So by the time our boxers reach the quarter-final stage, they will be tired and face an opponent who was on bay,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chomba said the federation will shift focus to preparing a team that will compete in the Congo Brazzaville tournament which serves as qualifier for the Germany World Championship later this year.
He said the technical bench will assemble a 13 member boxing team for the tournament.
“Our focus now is to prepare a team that will compete in the Congo Brazzaville tournament from May 27 to June 1. We want to send a team consisting of 10 male and three female boxers,
“ Our target is to qualify more than five boxers to the World Championship. The Federation has started to source for
sponsorship,’ he said.
